


the becoming

by scalding_coolness



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, the stages of her life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 09:49:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13268913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scalding_coolness/pseuds/scalding_coolness
Summary: Eleven, El and Jane were three different people.





	the becoming

**Author's Note:**

> Because I'm a loner with nothing else to do on Friday nights.

Eleven, El and Jane were three different people.

Eleven was the girl whose life had been stolen by a man who was so invested in science and it's wonders that he hadn't cared about robbing a little girl of her childhood. Eleven was the girl whose only toy through her whole childhood until the age of 11 had been a worn out tiger, whose room resembled a prison and that's what it honestly was; she wasn't there by her choice and had it been in her hands, she would've left long ago or never been there in the first place. Eleven was the girl who'd grown up in a lab surrounded by people who only kept her alive so they could prod and probe her for research and throw in solitary when she didn't obey. Eleven was the girl a bald men had fed out of either pity or sympathy, she didn't know, she hated both. Eleven was the girl four boys had found in the forest in the middle of a stormy night. Eleven was a shell of the person she'd meant to be but never become. A girl with not a name for a name, but a number. A constantly tormented, scared and  lonely child who's wildest dream was _freedom_ , but Eleven wasn't the girl who'd worn a different pair of clothes after so long lent to her by Mike. No, that was El.

El was the girl who had learnt the meaning of words like promises (something you can't break) and friends (and that they don't lie, ever). She was the girl that had found friends in four strangers, who'd stayed hidden in a boy's basement and ridden on the back of his bicycle and the air hitting her face had never ceased to feel amazing. She was the girl who'd found her home in **people because a place could never be safe for her.** El was the girl who'd never known a single thing about love, care or safety, but come to know and feel it so **strongly** , it sometimes left her so astonished. El was the girl who'd channeled radios with her powers and screwed with compasses for the sake of four boys. El was the girl who'd willingly gone to a place that scared the living daylights out of her for the safety of the four _friends_ she'd come to love. El was the girl who for the first time since she was born had been given a name and her chest had never felt so warm, who might have existed for twelve years, but had just started living. She was the girl who finally had some people in the world that loved her and had her back because she had heard Mike telling Papa he'd have to kill them to get to her. She knows he'd meant it because his voice hadn't once wavered and he'd stood his ground. El was the girl that had finally belonged somewhere and known what being lucky felt like.

Then there was Jane. Jane Ives, the girl who was stolen the day she was born, ripped away from a mother that hadn't stopped fighting until she couldn't anymore. Jane Ives who had spent 11 years in a lab not knowing someone somewhere in the world had readied a room with baby pink walls and toys she never had the chance to play with that'd always be hers, even if she'd never live there or play with them. Jane Ives who had an Aunt and a non biological sister. A family that she hadn't known was out there, that she'd never been able to be a part of apart from a few hours. She was the girl who'd lost her mother as soon as she'd found her, the girl who'd lived apart from the only family she knew for 353 days, the daughter of Terry Ives, the daughter she'd never been able to be.

And then there was Jane Hopper. When she'd first seen that name written on what Hopper had called a birth certificate, she'd cried. She hadn't known what a birth certificate was, but she knew what the name at the end of hers meant. Jane Hopper was the girl who slowly, but surely was taking control of her life again deciding where she wanted it to go. Jane Hopper who'd finally found a father in Jim who didn't know how safe he made her feel despite her spite over his protectiveness, something Papa could never have done or been, a sort of second mother in the form of a Joyce Byers who gave the best hugs. A brother in Will and Lucas and Dustin, some thing more in Mike. Jane Hopper who was strong, stronger than she'd ever been because she'd _levitated,_ actually stayed in air for minutes and saved Hawkins from an absolute disaster, the girl who'd found life after losing it when she was born. She was the girl who finally had something she could call hers and be grateful of.

That's how she became three different people before becoming Jane El Hopper. Jane because her mother had wanted her to be that, El because the she could never be that if it hadn't been for the four boys  she'd and Hopper because a complete stranger had taken care of her without her ever asking him to. She couldn't be a daughter to Terry, but she was a daughter to Jim.

She never wanted to be anybody else.


End file.
